Avantador's Theme Song -- Mother's Necklace

So . . . since my character is a bard and I actually do like to write music, I thought I'd take the dorky step of actually trying to write a song from my character.  It's a brave new world friends, but THE ROLEPLAY!

Here's the instrumental version:

and the lyrics:

Mother’s Necklace (Avantador’s Theme)

My mother held me tight

Every single night

And she would sing to me

Rocking me to sleep

Guiding my right hand

Peace upon our land

And all that she had

Was all that we had

All we needed then

Was the family den

And the Dragonborn

Why did no one warn us

When the giants strike

They slew us left and right

It was a blood-stained night

I hid away in fright

Too young to fight

But I watched father die

Nothing left to caress

But my mother’s necklace

And so I’m on a quest

Until they’re laid to rest

I will live my life

Until the time is right

And this Dragonborn

Who no longer mourns

Has been strengthened by time

And is now driven by rhyme

When the dragon strikes

No giant left in sight

To be a blood-stained night

From the point of my knife

Nothing left behind

And the nightmares remind

There’s nothing left to caress

But my mother’s necklace

Maybe someday I"ll actually be brave enough to post a sung version. Until then . . . feel free to use your imaginations. :) (Hope to be unveiling it to the group at the next session)

Love that Elf!

Avantador's "Giant" Joke List

Thanks to this site on Tall People jokes, I now believe I have a usable list for the first time I run into a Giant . . . just some slight modifications and we're good!

D12 roll:

1. What’s the difference between a clown and a giant? Their shoe store.
2. It's not a giant's fault they think they're the center of the universe. They just can't see anyone else.
3. What happened when the giant wanted to hang himself? Nothing, he couldn't find a high enough ceiling.
4. Yo mama so tall she tripped on a rock and hit the moon.
5. How do you make a giant look more awkward? You can’t.
6. What do giants and boulders have in common? Intelligence.
7. What does a giant and a burnt out torch have in common? They’re not that bright.
8. What do you call an attractive giant? An evolutionary miracle.
9. What’s a giant's worst fear? Ceiling fans.
10. Ever noticed that giants look like slinkies when they run.
11. Giants are only good for two things: Laughing at them, and getting runaway levitating wizards.
12. Where did the giant find a girlfriend? On the roof of a nearby house.

Or now that I think about it . . . these might be perfect for Vicious Mockery taunts when fighting giants. (I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up dead if I meet a giant at level 3)

If you have any other good ones, leave 'em in the comments. :) It'd be great if I could make that D12 roll a D20.

When last we left our heroes . . . (episode 2)

. . . Avantador used his Dancing Lights to create the shape of a humanoid at the entrance to the cave, which drew out a couple more goblins, who were quickly dispatched, and we made the brave decision to step into our first “dungeon” of sorts. 

Just inside the dungeon were a couple of chained up dogs . . . they were fierce mangy mutts that would sooner eat the side of your face than look at you twice.  That didn’t stop Melancholy’s big heart from taking a full day’s ration and tossing it to the two dogs to try and charm them into liking her.

It took some extreme talking by the others to convince Avantador that it was ok to let these two dogs go free, but he could see that Melancholy had at least filled their bellies and they weren’t out to eat much of anything anymore.

The dogs were let go, and they ran away into the woods never to be seen again? Well, we haven't seen them since at least . . .

The room itself was big and dirty with a giant garbage heap over on one side and what looked like a slide coming down to it. This will become more important in just a little bit . . . for now . . . ONWARD!

Back in the hallway we continued down the path and immediately what we noticed was a small creek that trickled down and a rope bridge high above.

We put two and two together and realized that taking the high road was probably the best action and soon enough everyone was parkour-ing (yup that’s a word) up to the bridge and dropping a rope down to those who weren’t nimble enough.

As we snaked our way down the tunnel we entered a large cavern where we could see a couple of goblins and a big dam of water. This would be our first big battle, and we did pretty darn good.  I can’t remember the particulars of the fight, but I do remember us being awesome and the dam breaking and washing everything downstream, which we smartly avoided. Yay us!

Oh yeah . . . except for one thing . . . three goblins had fled our awesomeness and jumped down the chute into the dog room below.  Not one to back down from a fight (or leave experience on the table) Avantador leaped down the chute after them. The only problem is that no one else followed him down . . . uh . . .

After rising from a fall into a pile of garbage, Avantador spied the three escapee goblin archers. Mustering up the scariest Dragonborn voice he could, he roared at them, “RUN!” (*insert failed intimidation*)

The goblins laughed, plucking him with two arrows that hit pretty dang hard for goblin arrows actually, and Avantador fell down bleeding out and dying in that heap of garbage . . . yes, his big beautiful 19 Charisma self was dying in a heap of garbage from a couple of punk goblins.

Luckily Graver and Melancholy stopped searching the crates above for loot and jumped down after hearing a sad Dragonborn moan from the garbage heap below. Graver shot out a couple of amazing magic missiles, which downed one and miraculously made the other two flee. Yup, a big 6’1” Dragonborn, not scary . . . a crazed rock gnome shooting magic missiles, scary. Got it.

Thankfully Melancholy patched up Avantador’s wounds, stabilizing him, and helped get him back on his feet. His first words upon returning to consciousness? “Thank you for not letting me die in garbage.” After drinking a healing potion, Avantador was ready to take up the rear of the group and pass around a few bardic inspirations because there was yet another hallway to venture down.

Eventually we got to another room full of goblins, and we were all having a very difficult time squeezing into the room and dealing with them because of the shape of the hallway, but eventually we took them all out thanks to some burning hands from Graver, some darts from Melancholy, and of course . . . the elf was hard at work.  Finally we ended up injuring and staring down a big bad hobgoblin boss that had captive one of our employers, Sildar Hallwinter, from the town of Leilon.

The hobgoblin had a knife to Sildar's back and told us that if we walked any farther he’d end his life.

For most of us in the party there was that tense moment of indecision, but not for Althea! *Twang* She took matters into her own hands and nailed that hobgoblin boss right between the eyes before he could do anything else. “HAHA! Love that elf!” What else could we say?

At least Sildar seemed appreciative . . . but where was Gundrun Rockseeker, companion to Sildar?  Was he dead? Alive? A traitor? One thing was for sure, he wasn’t with Sildar that day.

(to be continued . . .)

Friends, Fire Giants, and Food . . . but mostly food.

Whenever you gather together for a long session of D&D we know what's really important . . . the snacks . . . RIGHT?

While the hosts here don't always offer a magnificent showing of food, we do tend to at least try to have something out on the counter for the players and DM that visit our house.

Most notable have been the cakes . . . because who doesn't love a solid message to the group written in icing?

I mean, evil people gonna die, then let's celebrate, right? By the way . . . no redcloaks were actually harmed in the making of this cake . . . or from the making of this cake. In fact, we became middle management, but that's a story for another day.

Also, here's a closer look at our DM Birthday cake that was featured on the first blog post.

Notice that says "Harpy" not "Happy" Birthday.  Yeah, we're clever like that.

Anyway, there's usually a bag or chips or two and some kind of treat for everyone, but I must share the epic of all epic meals for Althea and Company.  It is this . . . the massive 28 inch Ultimate Party Pizza from Russo's.

It had to go in the back of the car.

This thing is a massive pizza. The pictures don't even help communicate the size of this thing.  The cardboard box would be perfect for a breakdancing mat. I'm telling you again . . . it's MASSIVE. It's a once in a lifetime treat, but so worth it.  I had pizza left overs for days.

Another favorite of mine is to make sub sandwiches. This one's a good one and surprisingly easy to throw together.  I'm all about simplicity. If you have any snack ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments.

When you have hungry kids and creative minds to feed . . . it's essential.

Love that Elf!

Melancholy's Art: Graver, Melancholy, and Avantador

So, Melancholy is an aspiring artist. She did the comics in the previous post as a birthday gift for me, and she's also drawn our family's characters before.  Check 'em out!

She's got a great talent that gets better and better each day. I can't wait to see what her art looks like ten years from now.

Until next time . . . Love that elf!

When last we left our heroes . . . erm, When we first met our heroes . . .

Every time Jeff starts a new D&D session , we hear the fateful words, "When last we left our heroes . . ." and then a summation of the previous session is given.

I hope to be doing the same sort of thing for you all on this blog. :)

Since I have six months of catching up to do with our adventures, some of the finer details may be a bit off, but I will do my best to give you the bigger ideas, and with that . . . let me set the scene . . .

When first we met our heroes . . .

~~

Our heroes had migrated from around the Forgotten Realms and were all situated in a local tavern in the town of Leilon. We were thrown together as strangers who happened to be looking for work yet we all had different motivations.  FATE, my friend, fate would have it that the four of us would be thrown together for a job to help deliver a couple crates of supplies to the town of Phandalin for the Harpers.

Graver: The Rock Gnome Wizard
Avantador: The Silver Dragonborn Bard
Melancholy: The Tiefling Monk
Althea: The Wood Elf Ranger

 . . . not a human among us . . . and the strangest group of compadres ever assembled.

At first Althea was pretty standoffish from the main group. While we were all snuggled in our carriage, she preferred to roam the woods or stay to the side of the road of the group where her pet deer Granola could be seen darting in and out of the woods from time to time. The first time Melancholy realized that Althea had a pet deer she squealed with joy and cheered, "A PUPPY!" . . . and Althea and Melancholy have been buddies ever since.

Melancholy at first was also very shy. As an orphaned monk Tiefling, things were a bit sheltered in the monastery and this was her first taste at . . . well . . . anything outside those walls. (seriously . . . one time we had to take time out to explain how money worked to poor Melancholy . . .)

After a quick stop off at a Harper location where we received the supplies to be delivered and Graver, the resident trickster of the group, gave a long lingering hug to a Halfling accountant there, we were on our way with horse and carriage.

Eventually we were ambushed by goblins and had our first taste of teamwork . . . and also a first hand look at the deadly aim of Althea.

We'd charge in to fight, and Althea would have already knocked 'em down with an arrow before we got there. And every time it'd happen Avantador would cheer his new found catch phrase . . .

Our employers had left a day before us and were also delivering supplies. We discovered their cart destroyed on the side of the road, but the perception of Althea was such that she noticed it looked like someone had been dragged away from the scene.

We followed and again Althea was deadly with her aim. In fact, when she didn't finally one-shot a goblin, it caught both Avantador and the goblin by surprise.  A quick psychic cast of Vicious Mockery helped take that last one hit point of life.

It was here that our adventurers then took their first big step into a dark cave where the body had been dragged into . . .

(to be continued)

Character Profile: Avantador

Avantador

Class: Bard
Race: Silver Dragonborn
Background: Entertainer
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Features: Avantador likes to look clean and wears nice clothes (Blue robes). He's a storyteller and will perform in exchange for lodging.
Original artifact: Mother's Necklace

~~

Backstory: Avantador's clan was destroyed in a series of ice giant attacks. Someday he will go back for vengeance but he needs to train. He wants to sing the song of their destruction. His family was destroyed while protecting him. Mentioning giants tends to upset him greatly..

~~

Personality Traits: Nobody stays angry at Avantador for too long -- He can defuse situations.
Ideals: Creativity -- The world is in need of new ideas and bold action.
Bonds: I will do anything to prove myself superior to those larger than me -- especially giants.
Flaws: I have trouble keeping my true feelings hidden. My tongue gets me in trouble.

~~

Languages: Draconic, Common, Giantish.
Other: Lute Proficiency, Hand Drum Proficiency, and Singing Proficiency